


One Last Time

by Strawberry_Sweetheart



Series: A/B/O World Building [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alpha Billy, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternative Universe - No Upside Down, Empty Nest Syndrome, M/M, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Steve, Pack Bonding, The kids are growing up, but Elevens nickname is still Eleven, slight feral behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:28:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23429245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawberry_Sweetheart/pseuds/Strawberry_Sweetheart
Summary: It came with a phone call late at night, just past the witching hour. It was deathly quiet and dark, a new moon withholding any moonlight to chase the shadows away, and in that silence the piercing ring of the telephone downstairs cut through their dreams. A sleepy noise and wiggle came from the lump under Billy, shifting until it escaped Billy’s arms and legs that held it hostage.Orthis is a requested fic for Alpha El + Billy and Steve being good parental figure types and helping her figure things out
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Series: A/B/O World Building [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608313
Comments: 8
Kudos: 240





	One Last Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GeegeeRobinson32](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=GeegeeRobinson32).



> This is for GeegeeRobinson32
> 
> Probably not what you expected but this is what I came up with   
> I did manage to get scenting in there but didn’t know how to incorporate hurt!El
> 
> It’s more Billy and el interact in their own way, so not much cuddles but still comfort 
> 
> I hope you like it anyways!

One by one they fell like dominos, one after another.

El was the last to present, but the most hectic.

It came with a phone call late at night, just past the witching hour. It was deathly quiet and dark, a new moon withholding any moonlight to chase the shadows away, and in that silence the piercing ring of the telephone downstairs cut through their dreams. A sleepy noise and wiggle came from the lump under Billy, shifting until it escaped Billy’s arms and legs that held it hostage.

"Who..."

Steve patted downstairs in bare feet, turning on the lights as he went, and Billy creaked an eye open at his retreating form, keeping his place warm for the omega’s return. There was muffled speaking, Billy could hear the tired tones in his voice into something more alert and awake, the scent of distress slowly wafting it’s way up stairs followed wing by the heavy footsteps that creaked the floorboards. Billy sat up quick enough to make his head spin, body swaying trying to shake off the remnant of sleep, clumsily trying to free his legs from the blankets when Steve appeared at his side, tugging at his arm and collar, urging him to get up.

"Steve, what—"

"They can’t find El, Hopper... They can’t find her."

Dark eyes were darker yet with just the lamp light bleeding through the room, enough for Billy to see them widen, big and scared. Dangerous. He was teetering on the edge of a panic, Billy could smell it, the scent of distress mixing with something akin to a warning, something equivalent to blaring red lights telling non-pack members to back off. It was evident in the way Steve had his wrist ensnared in his hand in a tight grip, tighter than what should have been possible, grinding bones together as he tried to pull Billy to his feet.

"C’mere, Steve."

There was resistance, a lot of it. It was a struggle pulling Steve into his lap, his hands a bit too forceful in the omegas hair, guiding him to Billy’s neck as he tried to calm him down. The adrenaline and omegan panic are useful in a fight, in blind protection when backed against a corner, but in a situation like this they all needed their heads clear enough to think. His own heart was racing against Steve’s but right now his mind was working to slot things into place.

First things first, calm his mate down. Easier said than done. Steve was stiff as a statue on his lap. Billy could feel the lips against his neck curl back, could feel teeth, wet and threatening, against his skin. The growl that emitted from Steve vibrating his whole chest, making the hair on his arms stand on end. Okay, time to add ‘Don’t get bit’ to that list.

"Let me go."

"Not yet, pretty boy. Need you to tell me what’s going on. Can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on. Can’t help El if we aren’t thinking clearly, you know this."

Billy could feel a tongue licking at his throat, but he knew it wasn’t in affection. It was a nervous tick, a fearful one. Steve was licking his lips and tongue, if anything a blaring warning, and Billy just had to trust Steve not to teeter off the edge and hurt him, had to trust himself as an alpha that he’d be able to ground him. Billy was stuck between admiring his omega for being protective of the kids, and completely shitting his pants at then possibly of Steve deciding he was getting in his way of their well being, deciding he was a threat. He had to offer him some footing, build some structure, to organize Steve’s thoughts.

He ran his hand down the muscles of Steve’s back, his other soothing his hair, "Who was on the phone?" He knew this, Hopper, but it was as good a start as anything, beginning with the basics.

"Hopper."

He offered a pleased rumble. "What did he say?"

"She’s. Gone." Steve tried to pull away from his neck, but Billy continued to rumble, a purr like noise, from his chest, encouraging him to continue, establishing himself as not a threat. The attitude in his response was good, a bit of personality seeping through the base instincts of fear.

"I know he said more than that. C’mon. What did he say? I want all of it."

Steve relaxed just a bit, minuscule, tucking his tongue back behind his teeth, huffing. "She presented, earlier. An alpha," he said quietly, a whisper, pausing to remember the words through the phone, "He went to check on her and her window was open. She’s gone."

"Is that all?"

"We need to find her, Billy, we need to..."

"Hey, hey, look at me." He pulled back just enough so they could see eye to eye. The panic in those deep browns had eased, allowing light back into them. He seemed fully present once more, the feral scent fading and heart beats slowing. Billy wanted to sooth the pursed line of his lips with a kiss. "I know it’s going to kill you but we need to stay here."

He hushed him once more when he tried to object, leaned his forehead against Steve’s. ‘Trust me’ was asked without words, but through fingers that rubbed circles on Steve’s neck. Steve’s job as the pack omega was to protect the pups, his is to protect his omega and keep the pack together, and he’d be damned he couldn’t bring Steve to trust him. He’d be heartbroken if Steve saw him as a threat.

"Hopper is already out searching for her, you know he is. Now this is Hawkins, Steve, not the city. Just a tiny town where everyone knows everything and the worst crime is the town drunk being too loud again. We need to stay here because this is where she is heading, okay? It’ll be worse if she doesn’t find us."

"You can’t know that." But he does. If El presented as an alpha he knows exactly what’s going through her head, because it’s what runs through his.

"They’re not pups anymore, Steve. They’re still kids, but they’re not pups anymore. They’re going to have their own pack that doesn’t include us as the head anymore, we've been waiting for this to happen. If El is an Alpha, you know she’ll take the place as the head in the pack. And just like I have to count heads and keep everyone together, keep _you_ safe, El is going to do the same with the nerds ."

It’s a bit uncommon how close knit the kids are, most don’t form pack bonds outside of family at such young ages, but it’s not unheard off. It’s a bit of luck and a bit of chance, to have a group of people click together like puzzle pieces well enough to form a pack at the most chaotic period of their lives.

"El is going to want the pack safe, and if she left Hopper’s, if she left home, then that only means she considers here to be the safest place. There’s nowhere else she’ll go, okay? she’s going to want to corral the idiots here."

Steve slumped into him, tired but contemplative. Tucking himself into Billy’s neck once more, a sorrowful whine muffled into his collar bone.

"Not pups anymore,” Steve lamented. El was the last of the group. The last pup under Steve’s care and now...

"No baby, not pups anymore." Steve got off his lap and it was only then that Billy noticed his legs were falling asleep under his weight. His feet tingled when he stood up. He wiggled his toes to get a blood flow back into them. "Still need you, you hear me? They’ll need a nest large enough for everybody to calm down El. God knows Max and Dustin can't do it. They can barely make their own."

That pulled a laugh out Steve, a weak thing but a laugh nonetheless. Dustin’s attempt to make a nest when he presented was just as disastrous as Steve’s. Kid thought the blankets needed to be cleaner, but was too lazy to put them in the wash, thought a vacuum would do the job. The fringe on the blanket got sucked through and caught inside the vacuum until it smoked and combusted, covering everything and dust and somehow starting a small fire on the carpet.

Steve set out to get the living room ready and Billy was on phone duty. They tried getting a hold of Hopper but there was no answer, which was expected. He was probably out of his mind looking for El. So Billy sought out calling the parents of each kid, letting them know what was going on. He called Susan last, see if she would drop Max off without having to face his dad. She said she'd try.

Steve was tucking cushions into each other, moving furniture loudly that it rattled the floor all the way where Billy stood to the side. He was close enough to see his pale cheeks deepen red, huffing as he moved things this way and that. No doubt building a sweat. This was a good thing, though. He needed something to busy his hands and mind to keep his thoughts from spiraling back into a panic.

Steve is something else, Billy’s always known that. He’s not stupid enough that he went into this relationship thinking it was a forever and ever thing. He really liked him, don’t get him wrong, but... well... they’re just kids, too. Billy is graduating this year, Steve is already out of school, but that doesn’t make them any less young and stupid. He knows how high school sweethearts end up after graduation, his parents were high school sweethearts. But maybe he got stupider ever since their first date, since their kiss. He thinks that now... now he’s stupid enough to try for forever, because there’s no ways he’s letting this go.

The kids are dropped off one by one, it’s a long process. It’s a lot of talking to the parents and a lot of answering questions and a lot of promises that Hopper will get in touch once he finds El. The kids pile up and fill the house with their loud screeching voices, getting cookie crumbs in the nest. It’s huge, a work of art that Billy can appreciate as an alpha, filled with pride at his omega. It’s large enough to fit every single one of them, and cushioned enough that it looks fit enough to be a cloud, all the edges tucked together. It must have taken nearly every pillow and blanket in the house.

Headlights shine through the living room window while Billy lets the nerds mess with the vcr. He pulls back the curtains and peeks. Hopper’s truck pulls into the drive way. His large form emerges from the truck followed by two smaller ones. One a red head still sporting bed hair and one with curls going every which way, wild as her eyes that dart around for a threat. Billy let’s Steve open the door, figures it’ll put El to ease, even just a bit.

She looks surprised when she sniffs the air and follows the scent into the living room, drags Max close not letting her get out of her sight. Max whine the the whole way. She looks like she might cry in relief when she sees all of them safe and sound and together. Billy knows the feeling. Hopper promises to get in touch with the parents, let them know everything is fine now and thanks for their help and thanks for keeping an eye out, she’s safe now. And then it’s just Billy and Steve and the kids talking over one another.

"...are you hurt?"

"-Dustin, seriously, you’re crowding her..."

"Ew, Lucas, your crumbs are everywhere—"

Steve stands in the doorway looking over them, and Billy stands right behind him, chin hooked over his shoulders to see. El looks lost, a little tense still. She’s still communicating in glares and rumbles, but Billy knows she’ll get her words back in a few hours when everything passes and settles. She looks at him, searching, asking everything through a look, and Billy lifts his wrists, passes it over Steve’s own and nuzzles the chestnut hair at the base of his neck. He’s pleased when El mimics him, running the underside of her wrist on the blankets and the rest of the nerds, getting them all to smell like pack.

They smile back at one another, an understanding between the both of them.

"Let’s go, Steve. I want to eat something before they clear out the pantry." Steve walks like there’s a weight in his shoulders, shuffling his feet and dragging the soles of his slippers across the floor. He has this gaze that’s gazed over and a million miles away, his lip worried between teeth, and Billy knows exactly what’s going through his head.

"I want you to eat with me. Yes, even if you’re not hungry," he says when it looks like Steve’s about to protest. He opens a can of soup and heats it on the stove, quick and easy.

"They’ll still need us, Steve."

"Not like before."

He’s right, Billy knows he is, and it hurts that he can’t wipe the sadness of Steve’s eyes with a lie. He can’t say nothing will change because everything will. "That just means we did our jobs right. They’ll rebel a bit, get annoyed at us for keeping them in check from here on out, because they need the independence. I don’t want you to take it personally if they snap at us when we try to comfort them."

"I know." Steve stirs the soup in his bowl with a spoon, making a figure eight and watching the noodles spin but not taking a bite. "And then they’ll get older and maybe, maybe we’ll all be a pack, as equals and not — and not..."

As caretakers he means. Babysitters. Older sibling figures etc.

Billy thinks...

Billy thinks Steve is too Goddamn young to be experiencing empty nest syndrome. In the living room there is laughter and the sound of a pillow thumping against something followed by an indignant yelp. This is probably one of the last times Steve will be making a pack nest this big, at least the last for a very long time. He hooks his ankle over Steve’s under the table, rumbles deep in his chest because it’s the only thing he can offer to sooth Steve, and pushes Steve’s bowl towards him, ‘eat’.

"So... Were you gonna bite me earlier?" Billy can help the way his teasing smile stretches around his spoon. Steve sputters, red embarrassment covering his neck and cheeks.

"I was... I wasn’t. My mind, you know?”

"I know, Steve. Not that I wouldn’t mind you biting me." A wet noodle smacks him in the chest.

"I don’t think I could ever see you as a threat. So no, I wasn’t going to bite you."

Billy hums, scooping more soup into Steve’s bowl now that it looks like he’ll actually start eating.

El gets her words back around early morning while everyone else is asleep. She lets Steve braid her hair and hold it together with hair clips and tiny elastic bands. It’s the first time all night that Steve’s face is smoothed out in contentment, enjoying this when it might be rarer and rarer from here on out. Billy’s grateful towards El, scoops extra waffles onto her plate in thanks before setting some aside for everyone else. He thinks El knows what Steve needs.

Steve goes up to shower before the day really starts. Billy is stuck on dish duty while El dries them. 

“Billy.” He raises a brow at her and hands her another plate to towel off.

“Why does… why does Steve smell different?” 

“Because you have a different nose now.” She reaches up to touch the top of her nose with her fingers, brows furrowed together. “You’ll be more sensitive to the smell of omegas. They’ll smell different than alphas and betas.” 

“Steve used to smell like… like clean laundry, but he smells sad now.” She shakes her head from the thought, mumbles, “It’s stupid.”

“It’s not, because you’re right. That’s what I mean when I say they’ll smell different. You’ll be able to tell what they’re feeling through their scents, but you can’t do that with others unless they’re pups or your mate.” 

“Why not?”

And Billy doesn’t know the exact answer. He’s sure it has something to do with instincts and biology, something complex that he can’t remember from a textbook. So instead he dwells on it, says: 

“Maybe because… because omegas spend so much of their time worried about everyone else in the pack and how they feel, taking care of everyone, that they forget to take care of themselves. They’ll ignore what they feel, or forget, and it’s our job to make sure they don’t.”

“Max doesn’t let people be more important than herself.” El wrinkles her nose in confusion, because Max doesn’t fit the bill. Billy’s proud of Max, for putting herself before others, it’s important to have a strong sense of self even when some may call it selfish. She’s a bulldozer of a person.

He laughs, “You can’t fit everyone into labels.” 

She doesn’t ask why Steve’s sad, what has him so drained, but when he comes down in a fresh set of clothing, she takes him by the wrist and guides his hand to his hair, allowing him to scent her like always. Like she’s still a pup. And Steve ruffles her hair, his step a bit preppier as he goes to wake the rest. 

“He smells better now.” 

“Yeah, but things are going to change. You won’t need us to scent the pack soon. You and the brats will have to learn to do that on your own. And you’ll have my job as the head Alpha.”

“And if we can’t? What if I can’t be you?”

“It’s not about trying to be Steve and I. Don’t try to be me, or someone else. The best thing you can do is be just the way you are, because they chose you and thought _you_ were the best decision, not someone else.”

Grumbles come from the living room. El watches her pack shuffle in, slumping in their seats and rubbing the sleep from their eyes, eating the food from the plates they left out and arguing with one another about some theory. Steve takes his place by Billy’s side, leaning into him.

Billy smacks El shoulder encouragingly, “Good luck with that lot, you’ll need it.” And Steve nudges him his foot.

“Don’t listen to him El.” 

Strangely, she beams at them.

**Author's Note:**

> As much as I love team mom Steve the kids have to grow up rip 
> 
> Change is hard, poor Stevie but it doesn’t have to happen all at once, it’ll give Steve time to adjust to not being needed like he used to now that the kids are becoming more independent 
> 
> This might be the last installment of this series, I’ll do more abo in the future just not within this universe


End file.
